How is the plastic bag ban going? Do you miss the plastic bags? (neighborhood, camp)

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by Seatown1

Instead of banning plastic bags why not make it easier for people to recycle them? I know that placing them in the trash is wrong, but I've received a noticed before warning me to never place them in my recycle bin again. So what do I do to get rid of them properly?.

Each plastic has it's own number to identify the chemical composition of the plastic. Like goes with like. You can't recycle #7 with #1 with #3. When this happens a batch of plastics containing enough of the wrong number is ruined and can't be melted and processed. The structural integrity is compromised. Or something like that

If you want to recycle your #4 plastic (grocery bags), bundle them up all together (make sure other numbers stay out of it) and take them back to your grocery store. They all have a place for them near cart storage. Our residental service provider takes them too, they just have to be bundled enough together so that workers can hand pick them during sorting. Hope this helps!

[gottaGetOut]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

. . . The other big gripe is with the berries. We eat a TON of berries and they all come in plastic containers too. That's my biggest waste right now... I remember when they came in cardboard

Also annoying is shopping in an urban area with high rates of thefts where the produce is often prepackaged, defeating all the efforts of shoppers in more enlightened areas. And stores where bad managers are not training baggers to put more than one item per bag.

[gottaGetOut]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

. . .

This is my first trip to leave WA in a few years and I'm just shocked in general at the lack of recycling and composting everywhere. I'm often cringing at what I'm seeing and experiencing. So glad I live in such an ecologically enlightened and concerned part of the country.

I am not really sure what's much worse than moving into a place with someone that represents themself as intelligent and enlightened, but you find yourself practically having to pull teeth to get them to recycle, or even set aside food scraps for the compost pile, in the garden They So Proudly Cleared Out For You To Use!!!! I want to strangle these people. I have asked, at minimum, for the coffee grounds and egg shells. I constantly find both these items in the garbage can. For No Earthy reason, other than they are lazy and clearly don't care.
I am actually growing some things, so its not just a matter of loving the earth, But. This household *does*
pay for garbage collection, and the explanation that every plastic bottle I take away for recycling leaves more space in the garbage can isn't hitting home either. I really made the mistake of believing everybody cares about these things.

[homesinseattle]

Gotta, I completely agree. I'm not a perfect but a little effort goes a long way in improving one's habits. I have found that just incorporating little things like having recycle/food waste bins closeby improves my compliance. It's so easy to throw that egg shell and plastic container in trash but not much more difficult to put them in the proper bins. And you get a little gold medal from nature each time you do .

[cmswazey]

We already had a compost pile outside but did not put meat in it (attracts animals) or eggshells or bones (they don't break down well) and we were pretty diligent. But when the city said no organic matter in the regular trash at all, we bought this cute mini trash can with a removable liner. It goes on our counter which is also steel and it is really easy. We have a garbage disposal but we use that only in cleanup- we don't put garbage in it.

[cmswazey]

I had this friend-originally from around here but has been living elsewhere (where nobody recycles anything) and man, I'd just cringe to see her toss anything and everything in the trash. She came back here but doesn't recycle-doesn't even try. Painful to watch.

Me, I'm such a fanatic that, at work, I take empty Kleenex boxes to the break room cuz it's the only place in the building that has recycle bins. In the offices we only have the shred bins for recycling paper.

[peequi]

Originally Posted by cmswazey

We already had a compost pile outside but did not put meat in it (attracts animals) or eggshells or bones (they don't break down well) and we were pretty diligent. But when the city said no organic matter in the regular trash at all, we bought this cute mini trash can with a removable liner. It goes on our counter which is also steel and it is really easy. We have a garbage disposal but we use that only in cleanup- we don't put garbage in it.

Look into composting meat and bones, it is very doable and easy. If your compost pile gets hot, which it should, it will take care of meat in the same time it does anything else. Bones can and should go into the city utility compost, even if they might advertise to not(I am not sure if they do). Those large commercial compost piles can compost bones within days, it is kind of scary when you think of it. You could stuff a large cow in the middle of those compost piles and it will be gone within a week or so.

The mafia back in the days were doing it wrong.

I think the plastic bag ban is going very very well. Everyone is just use to carry around those reusable bags in their cars now. The 5 or 10 cents fee for a paper bag is reasonable to most as well. As a conservative, I am always cautious and initially skeptical when liberal governments push regulations in the name of being green, but this one is the right thing to do. Both liberals and conservatives are just too darn lazy to take care of their plastic bags, either recycling them or using them around the house. I see liberal transgender hippies hanging around the park chanting, love mother nature and screw the big banks! Then they allow a plastic bag to fly away and a bag of cheetos. I see conservative rednecks sitting on the back of their pickup shouting, " F U government, personal freedom! Don't tell me what to do!" While allowing a plastic bag to fly away, then throwing a beer can on the ground."

We need big government sometimes because humans are too freaking lazy.

[cmswazey]

Agreed. I'm not a nanny state fan but I do recognize the need for laws and ordinances. They are often used as methods by which societal corrections are implemented.

[annonymous0381]

Plastic bag bans are spreading accross the united states. The full state of California banned plastic bags. Here in Seattle if you ever shop in Lynnwood or Bellevue you can still get free paper bags or free plastic bags. Unfortunately in seattle city limits stores are required to charge 5 cents for each paper bag and 25 cents for a reausable plastic bag.

[hurricane harry]

The plastic bag ban is working great. Its wonderful seattlites took this seriously and band plastic shopping bags.
Nothing but plastic bags full of dog crap littering the sidewalks and roads now.